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Dresden Passive House conference a success |
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14 Jun 2010, 7:11 PM
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The Passive House is gaining in popularity - that was the message received by over a thousand participants at the 14th International Passive House Conference in Dresden last month. "The Passive House Standard is spreading rapidly all over the world. The great potential of the concept has been quickly recognised, especially in areas where actual practical experience has been gained with the implementation of Passive Houses. The Passive House concept can be adapted to the various climates and regional construction methods and for this, the tools are available."
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This was the comment of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Feist who is the Scientific Director of the Passive House Institute and a building physicist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. The Passive House Institute estimates that 20,000 Passive Houses have already been built worldwide, 13,500 of them in Germany alone.
The international Conference took place in the new Federal States of Germany for the first time and was hosted by the Free State of Saxony. "I'm very pleased that this Conference not only underlined the commitment of the government of Saxony to the promotion of this energy-optimised construction method, but that it will also serve to establish ties with Eastern European countries", said Frank Kupfer who is the State Minister for the Environment and Agriculture and also the patron of the Conference.
In the plenary session Burkhard Schulze Darup demonstrated how climate neutrality in the building sector can be achieved by the year 2050. Martin Treberspurg, Roman Smutny and Alexander G. Keul presented the results of the monitoring and user experiences from residential Passive House complexes in Vienna – where the measured energy consumption was reduced by two thirds compared with new constructions built according to national standards, even though the statistics do not even show an increase in the construction costs. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Feist's contribution showcased "growth in all dimensions".
The progress of the Passive House standard in Saxony was one of the focal points of the Conference. In a practice-oriented lecture, Olaf Reiter & Günther Rentzsch presented two kindergarten projects in Dresden and Heidenau where a close cooperation with the ventilation system planners had been the key to achieving the desired outcome.
The principle behind the successful double-field Passive House sports hall in Dresden-Weixdorf was explained by Karsten Vietor in his report: The concept includes temperature adjustment with concrete core activation and optimised use of daylight to reduce artificial lighting to a minimum, thus keeping the energy consumption low.
Cornelia Ködderitzsch and Emmerich Seibel studied the economic feasibility of refurbishing pre-fabricated concrete buildings. Using the example of a sports store, Jerzy Timm pointed out the special Passive House Standard requirements for sales outlets, for example the optimisation of the store's lighting as well as the cooling which is neccessary due to the high internal heat loads.
High requirements also had to be met for the planning and implementation of Saxony's State Archive in Dresden in accordance with the Passive House Standard with regard to air humidity and temperatures. Ideal conditions could be created for the preservation of cellulose and other similar materials using minimum energy.
A series of seven excursions allowed the delegates to see for themselves a selection of local passive house projects.
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